Have I told you about my CPR and AED training that took place the other week? Well, it was quite an experience. It was extremely hands on needless to say that involved a lot of things like how to make the oxygen tank work, how does AED work and also, how to perform CPR on adults, children and babies. And also, how to make heavy external bleeding stop and what to do in case of an internal bleeding. In addition to that, how to make a proper 911 call in cases of high emergency situations. It was an all-day session and we were all in very comfortable outfits as it involved a lot of physical activities.

What I found most amusing was the fact that how science is constantly changing its concepts and approaches/methods as whatever seemed totally appropriate in the past is now no longer appropriate or even right; as in, it's no longer the right way of doing things. For example, just two years ago, taking the pulse of a person who's no longer breathing was compulsory and it was one of the first things you'd do to make sure that the person is breathing, but now they have completely eliminated that process from the whole CCC (Check, Call, Care) process. It used to fall under "Check" and as I understand, a lot of the existing methods will be proven wrong in the future and will be replaced by new ones.

Anyway, I found performing CPR to be the hardest. I have a slight wrist problem (the right one) and you have to put a lot of pressure while compressing and I was told to go as deep as 2 inches and even if it means breaking a few ribs, because what's more important is to keep the person alive rather than having a couple of broken ribs and that threw me completely off. I found it so harsh and heartbreaking but I do get the point. I am not sure though under that sort of situation if I'll be able to do it at all if that's the case. Anyway, I wasn't able to do it at first because going two inches deep even on a plastic dummy is really hard and to do it 30 times constantly is even harder (and you have to do it until the person is breathing normally and there’s no external or internal bleeding and if not, then until the paramedics arrive), but I was adamant especially when my isntructor told me that I was better off not doing it at all since I have slight wrist problem. And they won't let you off until you get it right as there's a certificate involved. But I took up all the courage and strength after the lunch break and went for it and that's when I was able to do it perfectly well.

Starting the machines (AED and Oxygen tank) was much easier. The other interesting thing was, the session started with a lot of questions as the instructor wanted to know how much we knew about a lot of this stuff, as some have been on this course for 3/4 years in a row now, but it was my first time. Anyway, I started answering a lot of the questions right and the instructor was heavily surprised to the point that he had to ask me a couple of times, “are you sure this is your first time? How do you know all this?” etc. as I was even able to answer some of the difficult questions. I told him that I watch a lot of TV shows and he immediately thought I was talking about Flashpoint, CSI and other TV drama stuff (lol) to which I had to tell him that I was actually talking about reality shows like ER (not the drama series but actually what happens in ER. It’s on TLC), True Crime Stories, True Crime Scenes, 48 Hours and some other stuff I regularly watch. But more importantly, from time to time, I read medical journals simply out of curiosity and my recent online research on NDEs has given me a lot of knowledge about medical stuff as well. And also, I thought, a lot of this stuff has to be some commons sense at least. Anyway, for the later part (after the lunch break), I just played dumb (and of course, in some cases I didn’t know the answers at all) because once you tell these people that you watch shows like the ones I mentioned, they give you strange look, as if you are from another planet. It’s much cuter and funnier when you say that you get your knowledge from the shows like Flashpoints, CSI etc. It feels normal I suppose but what an experience it was. I am very much looking forward to my next session needless to say.